Resources for Families

Families and friends looking for treatment or recovery support services, help for themselves, or reliable information on recovery from addiction will find a huge and confusing array online. To get started, here are some resources I’ve found that are accurate, accessible, and useful.

To find help, the Partnership to End Addiction has a helpline with phone and text options to help family members understand the options available and find the right treatment or recovery support services. Text support is available 24/7. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services’ Administration’s treatment locator is also a good place to start. Many states have treatment locators as well.

To dig into research on prevention, treatment, recovery, harm reduction, and more, the best one-stop-shop is the Recovery Research Institute. You can look up just about anything related to addiction recovery and find the latest research and evidence-based interventions.

To find out more about parent support opportunities, including online coaching, try Brenda Zane’s  Hopestream podcast. Brenda is an advertising executive who became an advocate and podcaster after her child entered recovery. She’s passionate about supporting and educating parents of adolescents and young adults struggling with substance use and mental health challenges.

To hear the experiences of young people in recovery, check out the Phoenix’s Rise, Recover, Live podcast. The Phoenix is a nationwide sober active community that supports in-person and online activities and events to build resilience and connection for people in recovery.

To watch a presentation by a parent whose advocacy for harm reduction and reducing stigma grew from her son’s death from a drug overdose, try Alexis Pleus’s presentation to the Recovery Center of Excellence at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Alexis is the Founder and Executive Director of Truth Pharm.

To learn more about what recovery is, what different pathways to recovery are, and how we talk about recovery, check out Jan Brown’s video The Future of the Recovery Movement: Time to Walk the Talk.  Rev. Jan M. Brown is the Founding/Executive Director of SpiritWorks Foundation Center for the Soul in Virginia. 

To get involved in advocacy, try the Recovery Advocacy Project, a national organization with state chapters working on local issues. Shatterproof is a national organization working to reform the nation’s treatment system and reduce stigma.